I purchased this 3 1/2 watt amplifier just to see what all the buzz was about, first connected them to a set of Swan diva towers [ 90 db ] and was pretty depressed, that's all this thing can do ? So I needed more efficient speakers, I took a set of RCF 15" woofers [95 db ] and a pair of JBL 2421b horns [ 117 db ] and crossed them over at 800hz with an attenuator on the tweeter and put them in well built cabinets and it just sucked, louder but just was not good so I took my 800hz crossovers connected them to my Altec 9264 duplex and still pretty weak, the Orchid can be used as just a stand alone amp if wanted so I connected a prototype Will Vincent preamplifier that has massive gain and WOW ! now were talking I can use any set of speakers and get pretty good results, more like a very good 50 watt amplifier, have read recently that others have used an outboard pre to similar results. Its a 3 watt amplifier, pretty stupid idea, people swear by these type of amps but there are easier less expensive ways to do the job better. Amplifier looks great but remote control only works when using as an integrated and without the addition gain or sub outs this amp is a dud.